Vrecar v. Slovenia
Struck out of the list
Berörda konventionsartiklar
THIRD SECTION
Applications nos. 3402/06, 8141/06, 17289/06 and 17623/06 by Matjaž VREČAR and 3 others against Slovenia
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 1 June 2010 as a Committee composed of:
Elisabet Fura, President, Boštjan M. Zupančič, Ineta Ziemele, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications,
Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government,
Having regard to the settlement agreements signed by the parties,
Having regard to Protocol No. 14,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicants are Slovenian nationals who live in Slovenia.
The applicants, Mr Matjaž Vrečar, Ms Slavica Žlebnik and Mr Marko Križnik, were represented before the Court by Ms Mateja Končan Verstovšek, a lawyer practising in Celje.
The applicant, Mr Janez Martin Omerza, was represented by Ms Jazbinšek Goričan, a lawyer practising in Celje.
The Slovenian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Lucijan Bembič, State Attorney-General.
The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
The applicants were parties to civil proceedings which were finally resolved ( pravnomočno končan postopek ) before 1 January 2007, that is, before the 2006 Act on the Protection of the Right to a Trial Without Undue Delay (“the 2006 Act”) became operational.
Subsequently, they lodged an appeal on points of law with the Supreme Court ( Vrhovno sodišče ), and in certain cases also a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court ( Ustavno sodišče ).
The details concerning the cases are indicated in the attached table.
COMPLAINTS
The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of civil proceedings and under Article 13 of the Convention about the lack of an effective domestic remedy in that regard.
THE LAW
In the present cases, the Court notes that, after the Government had been given notice of the applications in 2009, they submitted their observations and informed the Court that they had made a settlement proposal to each of the applicants.
By the settlement agreements signed by the State's Attorney's Office and the applicants, the former acknowledged a violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and accepted to pay the applicants the non-pecuniary damage sustained and costs and expenses incurred. The applicants accepted the amount as full compensation for the damage sustained due to the length of the above proceedings and waived any further claims against the Republic of Slovenia in respect of this complaint.
The applicants subsequently informed the Court that they had reached settlements with the State's Attorney's Office and that they wished to withdraw their applications introduced before the Court.
The Court recalls Article 37 of the Convention which, in the relevant part, reads as follows:
“1. The Court may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that
(a) the applicant does not intend to pursue his application;
...
However, the Court shall continue the examination of the application if respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto so requires.”
The Court takes note that following the settlements reached between the parties the matter has been resolved at the domestic level and that the applicants do not wish to pursue their applications. It is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention or its Protocols does not require the examination of the application to be continued (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Stanley Naismith Elisabet Fura Deputy Registrar President
Appendix
No.
Application No.
Applicant's Name
Year of Birth
Address
Date of Introduction
Date of settlement proposal or agreement signed by the State Attorney
Date of the applicant's withdrawal of the application
Amount of compensation
in euros
1.
3402/06
Matjaž Vrečar
1972
Velenje
27/12/2005
30/09/2009
09/10/2009
1,373.76
2.
8141/06
Slavica Žlebnik
1962
Šoštanj
17/02/2006
04/09/2009
16/09/2009
1,366.75
3.
17289/06
Marko Križnik
1977
Loka pri Žumsu
10/04/2006
11/01/2010
20/01/2010
735.85
4.
17623/06
Janez Martin Omerza
1946
Ljubljana
07/04/2006
09/02/2010
11/02/2010
5,559.81